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Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Fox and the Cat
It happened that the cat met the fox in a
forest, and as she thought to herself, "He is clever
and full of experience, and much esteemed in the world,"
she spoke to him in a friendly way. "Good-day, dear
Mr. Fox, how are you? How is all with you? How are you getting
through this dear season?" The fox, full of all kinds
of arrogance, looked at the cat from head to foot, and for
a long time did not know whether he would give any answer
or not. At last he said, "Oh, thou wretched beard-cleaner,
thou piebald fool, thou hungry mouse-hunter, what canst
thou be thinking of? Dost thou venture to ask how I am getting
on? What hast thou learnt? How many arts dost thou understand?"
"I understand but one," replied the cat, modestly.
"What art is that?" asked the fox. "When
the hounds are following me, I can spring into a tree and
save myself." "Is that all?" said the fox.
"I am master of a hundred arts, and have into the bargain
a sackful of cunning. Thou makest me sorry for thee; come
with me, I will teach thee how people get away from the
hounds." Just then came a hunter with four dogs. The
cat sprang nimbly up a tree, and sat down on top of it,
where the branches and foliage quite concealed her. "Open
your sack, Mr. Fox, open your sack," cried the cat
to him, but the dogs had already seized him, and were holding
him fast. "Ah, Mr. Fox," cried the cat. "You
with your hundred arts are left in the lurch! Had you been
able to climb like me, you would not have lost your life."
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
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